AuthorTopic: Do not go to Floco! (Read 2725 times)

Being someone who is in the top 10% of my class, and a member of Law Review and Moot Court, I would like to warn any potential students of the realities facing Coastal students.

First, there simply are no job opportunities available. I personally have an UNPAID summer job lined up, and out of all of the people I know at Coastal, I do not know of anyone who has a paying job. Not a single person. And lots of people cannot even get unpaid jobs; Coastal students will literally do ANYTHING for legal experience.

As a future graduate of Coastal, my future is very uncertain. Because my benevolent institution graduates 300 or more new attorneys every year, the regional market is flooded with new attorneys, and there are literally no jobs for new lawyers. There are no on-campus interviews, and the career services department tells everyone to "network." I have been networking for months, and consider myself lucky to have an unpaid job this summer. Also, my employer made it clear that this job will not lead to a job offer.

I am really not sure what I am going to do. I will owe around $120,000 combining my undergraduate and law school debt, and I have no idea how I am going to pay the bills after I graduate. My family tells me everything will work out, but they really do not understand how bad the market for attorneys is and will be for years to come.

I wish I had never come to law school. Even though I have enjoyed academic success, the reality is that schools like mine (low-ranked and/or new) simply are given short shrift by employers. I wish I had gone to business school or had just gotten a job. Making $10/hour is better than owing $120,000 and having no job or making $30-40k/year, which is what I would almost kill for.

PLEASE, DO NOT GO TO FLORIDA COASTAL SCHOOL OF LAW. YOU WILL BE MAKING A MISTAKE. I AM LIVING PROOF!

cooleylawstudent

You know, I've noticed something, the "bottom percent" of the class never posts to bittch about not finding work. They must doing the best. Employers must just not looking up your nose when you enter the room and smelling your rose scented farts all day...

I'm about to graduate from a tier 3 in the southeast. I also worked an unpaid job my 2L summer, but I have a job lined up clerking for a state appellate judge. A friend of mine was just recently hired as a 3L to start at a large firm in the next few months (without an SA gig there). Small firms continued to hire 3Ls throughout this past academic year.

So hang in there; there are opportunities for 3Ls to get jobs. You gotta hustle, though. Top 10% used to be able to rely on OCI at lower ranked schools. Not so much anymore. From what I can tell, there are a lot of clerkship opportunities in Florida. I recommend looking in to those. Some federal judges have already started hiring (though top 10% prob won't be good enough to get these), and some state courts will start in the next few months.